The barge with 500 migrants which was reported yesterday in the Sar area of Malta has been reached by the Geo Barents vessel but the recovery operation cannot yet be carried out due to bad sea conditions. “Due to the adverse weather conditions, it is not possible at this moment to carry out the rescue without compromising the safety of the survivors, as well as that of the MSF rescuers and rescuers“, declared by the NGO. During the night, Alarm Phone continued to point the finger at Italy in a series of messages left on social media, revealing insistent calls to the MRCC in Rome.
We’ve repeatedly reached out to the Italian MRCC, updating them about the urgent distress. In our last call, they suggested we should reach out to RCC #Malta as the ‘responsible authority’.
We call on all authorities to live up to their responsibility!
Rescue without delay!— Alarm Phone (@alarm_phone) April 3, 2023
“We have repeatedly contacted the Italian MRCC updating on the urgency of the situation. In our last call, they suggested that we alert the Rcc Malta, as competent authority. We ask the authorities to respect their duty and rescue without delay“, declared by Alarm Phone in a message left online at 21.54. Once again, Italy was involved in an operation not within its competence and our country demanded an intervention first in Libyan Sar waters and then in Sar waters As already happened two weeks ago, once again the NGOs made repeated calls to Italy requesting interventions and, consequently, occupying the lines and resources with unnecessary calls, as that episode does not fall within the sphere of competence territory of the MRCC of Rome.
In fact, during the night, the Valletta authorities took over the coordination of operations. In addition to the Doctors Without Borders ship, there are two merchant ships on site, “but they are not equipped to carry out such a massive rescue operation“. Thus explains Alarm Phone communicating that Malta has not yet sent its means to the site. From Italy, Don Ciotti asks “that Italy continues to do its part” but our country does its part every day and it cannot take charge of every boat in the Mediterranean.
The intentions of Malta’s coordination remain to be understood and it is not excluded that the support of Italian resources will be requested, relying on the exceptional nature of the operation involving 500 people. Furthermore, Valletta having taken over the coordination and the ship having arrived on site Geo Barents, in the event that the crew of the NGO were to carry out the intervention, by right the migrants should be disembarked in a Maltese port, not an Italian one. But the pressure exerted on our country by NGOs leaves some doubts on the matter.